


Love Thy Neighbor

by lucifers_left_earlobe



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2013-10-29
Packaged: 2017-12-30 20:14:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1022915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifers_left_earlobe/pseuds/lucifers_left_earlobe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Dean/Cas AU with Sunday school teacher!Cas and Writer!Dean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Thy Neighbor

**Author's Note:**

> I've been to church once in my life and only read about half of the bible out of curiosity, so if anything's incorrect regarding theology and general Christianity, please tell me because I don't like writing false information.

The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Castiel Novak wouldn’t think the whole thing was such utter bullshit, the Bible that is, if people actually paid attention to what the verses meant. Granted, he’s not exactly what could be qualified as devout, per se, but he  _does_ have a pastor father, and he supposes that’s enough to enable his claimed amateur ‘expertise’ on most things regarding Christianity.

That being said, Castiel Novak is gay. He’s always known it, always felt it, and always felt the need to hide it in a little corner of himself to protect his father’s incredibly conservative ‘Utopian’ views of how a good Catholic family should function. So, with his status, he does have some leverage when it comes to interpretation of biblical texts.

He’s at church today, teaching small children to worship God and love thy neighbor. Castiel has just covered Galatians and is hoping to high-fucking-heaven that the little shits actually retain an ounce of the text, and that their parents have at least allowed them the courtesy of forming their own opinions before shoving their own beliefs down their children’s throats.

“Mr. Novak, I have a question.” 

Castiel turns to little Jessica, who’s always so full of honest curiosity it-marginally-warms Castiel’s heart.

“Yes, Jess, what is it?” Castiel asks, knowing full well that Jess has to obtain full awareness that Castiel is in fact hearing her out.

“God says ‘love your neighbor as yourself’, what does that mean?” Her eyes glimmer with that peaked interest, as though there is no place in the word she’d rather be than learning from Castiel. God, sometimes he forgets how great it is to be a teacher.

“Well, that’s up to you.” Castiel leans against the wall and folds his arms over his chest. “What do you think it means?”

Jess shifts in her seat for a moment before resting her head in her tiny palm. Her eyebrows knit together as she contemplates the freedom of her choice and finds an answer of her own volition. Meanwhile, another smallish hand shoots up.

“Mr. Novak, I think it means to be nice to everyone,” the light English twinge of Bela Talbot rings out. She’s easily the oldest kid in his interpretive theology class; she’ll be receiving communion in just one month. “Like, minding your own business and loving him despite what he chooses to do.”

Castiel nods at her opinion, astounded that she grasped the concept of individual interpretation so easily for a girl so behind in her levels. “Yeah, Bela, that’s just what I think it means as well.”

She nods and resumes painting her nails a bright hue of fuchsia. After a moment, Jess finally gathers her thoughts and yells for his attention.

“Then why do people still hate other people, Mr. Novak?”

Castiel pauses, his hands fisted in his pockets briefly as she touches on a relatively personal subject. Fuck, when did kids get so damn  _insightful_?

He walks back to his desk and seats himself atop the uncomfortable wooden chair, thinking of an appropriate response to such a subjective and open ended question. It takes less than a second for Castiel to realize that he should stay honest; he  _is_ in church after all, and opts to answer as honestly as possible.

“It’s because people are stupid,” Castiel murmurs to his youthful audience. There is movement in the back of the classroom as a little kid, Castiel vaguely recalls the person as Charlie, tugs on another kids sleeve and grins mischievously. He’s about to intervene when he finds that they just wrap their hands together, and instead subdues a small smile. After a beat, Castiel continues.

“People are wrapped up in their own ideas, their own bigotry and qualms with different people. It’s not going to change, as much as I’d like it to, but you, as learners, must know that you shouldn’t force your opinions on others. Especially when it could affects all sorts of people, even your children, if you choose to have them.”

Large and unblinking eyes follow him as he makes his speech, staying close enough to home to make a good argument while hovering just outside of that disaster of father issues to seem almost unbiased. Almost.

At one point or another, the girl in the back of the room crosses his attention again, her back more straightened than the others when he mentions bigotry in the form of homophobia. She even goes as far as to begin raising her hand, before yanking it back into her lap.

“Charlie, is there anything you’d like to add?”

She glances nervously at the classroom, her face heating to a light shade of pink as she weighs her choice. When she does, she nods and shifts in her seat to obtain a more level pedestal with Castiel.

“I think those people are wrong,” she mumbles, talking more to Castiel than she is voicing an opinion. “The person we choose to love is not anyone else’s business. Isn’t that what the Bible said? That section that you made us read earlier?”

“That’s definitely one way to think of it.”

“Yeah, but loving your neighbor should include more than just loving neighbors the same as yourself. It has to be unconditional or you’re just a liar. And we read earlier that lying is one of the worst things you can do.”

Charlie really should’ve been placed in a higher level class. She is actually passionate, almost, if not more so, as Castiel is about this subject. And it’s a hard subject to grasp; even Castiel sometimes wonders whether or not he’s problematic, a defect in the eyes of his ‘creator’. For Charlie to be able to handle the girth of such a bold assertion is in itself something akin to genius.

Just as he’s about to reply to her stance in the affirmative, the bell rings indicating that Mass will be in session in ten minutes. The children all scramble to gather their meager supplies and rush out of the door. Charlie lingers briefly, however, eyeing Castiel as she hesitates in the door frame.

“Was there anything else you wanted to add?”

“I was curious-no, Mom says I shouldn’t be nosy.”

Castiel simply shrugs and turns in the direction of the skinny fourteen year old. “Ask away,” he says, letting an easy grin fall over his lips.

She shifts her weight between each of her feet briefly, appearing both indecisive and moderately uncomfortable with her own question. Then, her entire demeanor changes and she squares her shoulders. “Mom says that you aren’t like the rest of the teachers here. She says that you married another man.”

Castiel stiffens, shocked with the confrontation. Sure, he’s been asked about it before; about how he can hold occupation in a church while being homosexual, about how he deals with all of the ‘hate’ he gets ‘daily’. And he really doesn’t, it’s all just another misconstrued idea created by people fearful of change and of difference, creating lies about the, for the most part, evolved church.

Of course, Castiel is still a disbeliever. Not in God, but of the necessity of worshipping God. He will always retain that view, and he’s proud to. But there are some things that he just shouldn’t tell an impressionable teenager as she learns about Christianity.

“We’re not married yet, but yes I am engaged to a man.”

“So you don’t believe that there is a problem with being gay, with using your choice for love.”

“No, I don’t see any problem with the life I chose or who I chose to spend it with.” This conversation is definitely not headed in a direction that’ll leave Castiel objective. Just thinking about Dean is enough to make him want to sprint to their small apartment and into his sturdy arms.

“Okay, thanks. I have to go do something,” Charlie murmurs before spinning on her heel and sprinting in the exact opposite direction of the church. It only takes a few more minutes for the realization to hit him, and then Castiel feels like a total idiot. No wonder she was so curious about society and religions concision. No wonder she asked only questions pertaining to homosexuality and the church.

Castiel can’t keep the grin off his face as he packs up his things and leaves the classroom. He can’t wipe the soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he drives through the storm muddled, crowded Boston afternoon. Even as he pushes open the door to his apartment and finds Dean on their couch, laptop on his lap as he stairs with utmost concentration at the chapter he was working on today, Castiel is still smiling like a dopey idiot.

He flops down beside his boyfriend; completely uncaring that he left his shoes on and probably left a trail of muddy water behind him. He rests his head on Dean’s shoulder and feels the man jerk beneath him as he’s yanked from his daze.

“Cas, a little warning next time?” Dean asks, shifting so Castiel’s head reclines against Dean’s chest. A warm weight presses against Castiel’s cheek as Dean lays his hand upon it as he always does. “What are you so happy about, hot shot?”

“I think we inspired a girl in my class,” Castiel murmurs, grinning at the freckled man. Dean’s eyebrows crank skyward in question. “We talked about ‘love thy neighbor’ and she chose to focus on the more social aspects of it. Specifically, she focused on the church’s views on homosexuality.”

Dean nods before removing his hands to set the computer on the coffee table. Strong arms wind behind Castiel’s shoulders as Dean reclines against the plush sofa, easing them into an almost spoon-like position.

“What did you tell her?” he asks once they’ve both been righted; slotted together in the most comfortable way.

“I told her that she should have her own opinion, though the church does encourage universal acceptance,” Castiel mumbles. He can feel the blush forming on his cheeks and neck before he even adds on to what he told the curious girl. “And I told her that I couldn’t be happy with anyone besides you.”

Castiel rotates so he doesn’t have to look at his boyfriend and tucks his face into the crook of Dean’s shoulder. God, he really  _is_ dopey; he should really work on that. He’s just pulling away when Dean reaches to strong arms around his body and tugs him upward so their noses brush with each exhale, the movement of their synchronized breathing propelling them together.

And then Dean closes that distance, winding his hands around Castiel’s shoulders and tugging him downward, knocking their lips together in a somewhat clumsy kiss. It’s nice though, the push and pull familiarity of their slotted lips, the even balance of the wet brush of tongue and the soft brush of chapped lips.

Just as Castiel is knotting his fingers into Dean’s hair and spreading his legs over Dean’s hips, Dean retracts himself an inch. Castiel ducks in to catch those lips once more, but he’s stopped by restraining hands pressed to his chest. Just as he unleashes an array of comments on Dean’s being an assbutt, Dean grazes his lips against Castiel’s in a light peck, but he lingers for just a moment to murmur something into Castiel’s skin, whispering sweet words that warm Castiel from head to toe.

“I love you too, moron.”


End file.
